Entrepreneurship EducationFrom Thesis to Startup with the Startup Thesis
9 August 2024
published by hei_INNOVATION
Students who want to put their research directly into practice can now develop a business concept and a business model for a start-up on the basis of their Bachelor's or Master's thesis. Participants receive support from hei_INNOVATION, Heidelberg University's transfer agency, and a certificate for this accomplishment. At the same time, they learn the basics of entrepreneurship and business model development and have already taken the first step towards their own startup with the Startup Thesis.
Students who work on the Startup Thesis are supported by hei_INNOVATION in developing their business model. The Startup Thesis not only gives them the opportunity to put their own research work directly into practice, but also a certificate for this additional achievement. The thesis can also form the basis for an EXIST start-up grant, which provides students, graduates and scientists at universities and non-university research institutions with financial support for founding a start-up.
The Startup Thesis consists of a theoretical part and a practical part. The theoretical part comprises the own research in the form of a Bachelor's or Master's thesis, which is supervised by the chair. The scope of the thesis and the requirements are specified by the chair. The practical part consists of the acquisition of an additional qualification through the development of a business concept based on the thesis, as well as the practical implementation of the research in the form of the conception of a start-up case.
Students wishing to take up the offer are required to attend the Entrepreneurship for Beginners 2 course or other courses with a comparable number of ECTS credits (at least 3 ECTS) as part of the Entrepreneurial Skills Module offered by hei_INNOVATION. Furthermore, you must attend at least three hours of counselling in hei_INNOVATION's start-up advisory service, in which the business model is discussed, the pitch is worked out and practised and the financial structure is discussed. At the end, participants give a 10-minute final presentation.